France at risk of losing AAA grade

Paris: France risks losing its top AAA grade as Europe’s debt crisis prompts a wave of downgrades that threatens to engulf the region’s highest-rated borrowers, with Belgium also facing a possible cut.

Moody’s Investors Service said on December 15 that it may lower Spain’s rating, citing “substantial funding requirements,” and slashed Ireland’s rating by five levels on December 17.

Standard & Poor’s is reviewing its assessments of Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Costs to insure French government debt rose to a record yesterday with the country’s credit default swaps more expensive than lower-rated securities from the Czech Republic and Chile.